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WSF World Doubles: Day Two

3 Aug 2017

Defending champions and top seeds Clyne & Lobban of Scotland wasted no time in wrapping up Pool A in the men’s draw on day two of the WSF World Doubles, dismissing unseeded Dutchmen Bennett & Schweertman in just 16 minutes, 11/2, 11/5. With two wins under their belts, both pairings advance through to tomorrow’s quarter-finals.

Bennett commented, “They (Clyne & Lobban) play the angles very well without giving you anything to work with. They’re the world champions after all. We didn’t expect to be in this position but we’re delighted to get through and we’ll give it our all in the quarters.”

Meanwhile, Australian second seeds Pilley & Cuskelly wrapped up Pool B with a third win dispatching unseeded South African’s Brits & Potgieter 11/3, 11/10 (23m). Meanwhile, in Pool C, third seeds Palmer & Alexander also made it three out of three beating Malaysians Kamal & Ng 11/10,11/8 (32m).

The men’s quarters will be finalised after the final matches on Thursday morning.

In the women’s draw, top seeds, New Zealand’s King & Landers-Murphy of Pool A and India’s Chinappa & Pallikal of Pool B stormed their way into the quarter-finals yesterday with two wins apiece, but all the remaining places depended on deciding matches today.

Pool C went to the wire, ending in a three-way tie as Aussies [11] Cardwell & Nunn edged out Malaysia’s [6] Arnold & David in a third game tiebreak 11/9, 6/11, 11/10 (40m), but missed out on a quarter-final place on games countback. Third seeds Grinham & Urquhart of Australia ended up pool winners with the Malaysians Arnold & David in second.

There was double delight for England in Pool D as [5] Duncalf & Waters and [4] Massaro & Perry topped the table respectively. Duncalf & Walters convincingly dispatched Aitken & Hallam of Scotland, 11/4, 11/1 (18m) in their final match and now face the runners-up of Pool C on Thursday.

Waters, 34, said: “It was a solid win but it got a bit scrappy at the end with quite a few lets but we didn’t let that affect us. It’s good to win all three games and qualify comfortably.”

In the mixed draw, defending champions [1] Coll & King of New Zealand found themselves in a real battle in Pool A as Scottish pair [9] Kempsell & Aitken took the first game and held a slender advantage throughout the decider. At 10-8 there were several lets as the women concentrated on playing crosscourt to each other, but immediately after saving the first match ball, King served out to hand the match and a big upset to the Scots, 11/7, 5/11, 11/9 (48m).

Both pairs went on to record a second win later in the day, with the Scots producing another upset as they beat England’s [8] Waller & Lust in three 9/11, 11/6, 11/4 (64m), to book a quarter-final spot.

Lust, 28, was upbeat despite the defeat. She said: “I felt like we played quite well today. They (Aitken and Kempsell) beat the No.1 seeds this morning so they’re obviously a good pair and they practice a lot together. I don’t think we did a lot wrong so I’m feeling pretty positive ahead of tomorrow.”

The fancied seeds advanced in the other groups, India’s Ghosal & Pallikal and Malhotra & Chinappa, and Australians Palmer & Grinham and Pilley & Urquhart all recording two wins to advance to the last eight.

There's still plenty to play for in the mixed, with matches in all pools tomorrow morning.